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In English

The relations between Namibia and a small NGO called the Namibia Association of Norway started in 1980 and has developed steadily and in many directions, but always with the main focus on development projects related to education and building friendship links between the two countries.

A brief look into the past shows that we have accomplished a lot together with our Namibian counterparts and we know that there is room for us to be present in Namibia for many years to come.

Before independence the assistance from Norway and NAMAS was mainly to support Namibian refugees with materials and personnel to the various education centres where Namibian youth were offered education when they went into exile. These centres were in Angola, Zambia and Congo.

From being an organisation working in northern Namibia with projects related to education, we have included more regions and other groups of people in need of assistance within Namibia.

One of our aims is to contribute to the improvement of the life situation of indigenous peoples like the Himba and the San.

In the Kunene region the Ondao school project has been a success. The experience we have with the school has been of great importance in the starting up of our project targeting the san communities in Tsumkwe, with the establishment of a teacher’s resource centre and a Community Learning and Development Centre. Activities in the region includes to upgrade teachers, school board training and support to the Ministry in offering basic education to a group of people who have long been falling outside the education system.

We see a lot of challenges in these two regions and we hope to be able to engaged in a variety of tasks in the next years.

We will continue our engagement in projects related to practical training and introducing entrepreneurship as a subject in junior secondary school and traditional life skills. There is a long history of projects related to this field, and we hope to contribute also in the future with expertise and experience.

We see education as an important means tool for democratic development, respect for human rights and economical and social righteousness.

We also strive to increase the exchange programmes between Namibia and Norway by strengthening the cooperation between institutions of higher education in the two countries

Students have been able to profit from doing their internship in schools, kindergartens and hospitals among others. This experience is valuable not only for their own career, their knowledge of their field of study, but meeting people as professionals and as friends will also be a contribution to their understanding of another culture and will enrich them as human beings. Reports from host institutions tell us that the students also contribute to the needs they have.

In our work at home we focus on spreading information to the Norwegian public in order to open up debates and interest in questions of development and also to ensure that opinions and perspectives from the south are being passed on.